Forward Mounted Side Turn Signal Lights

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Have been noticing that most of the 2013-14 motorhomes have forward mounted, side body amber turn signal lights. Recalling many, many times other vehicles that are forward of my mid-body turn light, but not far enough forward to see my front turn signal lights, would make no effort to allow me a lane change. Other than the rare driver that just doesn't yield for anything smaller than a train, it occurred to me that these vehicles/drivers just could not see my signal and desire for a turn. Suddenly, It all began to make sense why these new motorhomes had these lights.

I decided that during the time the bus was not being driven, except for the monthly warm-up and functionality drive, it would be a good time to add these lights to our DutchStar. In my search for the perfect light that would be visible directly to the side, front and rear, I found a Maxxima amber LED light turn that fired in all three directions and was pretty easy to install.

As an afterthought, I also replaced all the front and side turn signal bulbs with LEDs, as well as the four white docking lights. The end result was the whole "see and be seen thing" was much improved, so I thought it was worth sharing with all of you here.

Also, in the case of my side white docking lights, the LED replacements brought the power consumption down from nine amps to just slightly under one. (worth it)

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Thanks for posting your thoughts and how you addressed a personal concern.

The fact that there is a lack of mid coach turn indication has been a item of concern to me also. I have not made any attempt to add additional turn indicators and keep a heightened awareness of conditions ahead and to the side(s) to minimize sudden lane changes.

Having said that, the thought of the addition of turn indicators is one that I should address!

Rich.

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Sounds like something else I can add to my modified list. I think mine and others don't have it because of the side cameras. Better to see a car than a flashing light on the screen. Let us know what you come up with.

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I have a 2007 Fleetwood Providence 39L with side directional light and they have helped out quite a few times as a lot of people out there like to hang out in the middle of the coach but the lights get their attention. I am going to change them to led though.

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I have three side markers on both side of our coach. The front and middle are both Amber and the rear is Red. The front Amber and Rear Red are both turn signals along with the Mirror and Front and rear markers. I kind of like the idea of changing to the LEDs. Anything to alert some of the clowns out there. But I must say that most driver are well behaved and will yield when they are aware of your changes.

Has anyone out there noticed that trucker don't flash their lights to indicate that your are safe to return to your lane after passing. There are a few that still signal but they are getting fewer.

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I had a 93 Southwind that had 3 amber marker light, one midships and one the side front bumper and one on the side mounted mirrors. It also had a red marker on the side of the rear bumper. The 3 amber side marker lights flashed with the turn signals the red marker did not.

They were old and sometimes didn't work because of dirt and corrosion and not many drivers paid much attention to them. I changed markers to LED except for the mirrors and it seems like more drivers paid attention to them.

The coach I have now has 2 markers. An amber LED that's on front of the rear fender skirt that doesn't flash and a amber bulb on the front mounted mirrors that only flash with turn signals. There is no surprise that drivers don't pay much attention to the small amber bulb on the front mounted mirror. It will be a good idea to have a flashing LED marker to the front of the front fender skirt. I would like it to be shielded from the camera so it don't cause a glare in it. I'm thinking something like a 3 wire marker turn signal light.

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Just to clarify my original post, our Dutch Star does have a "mid" body turn signal light that was installed as original equipment by Newmar.

The "extra" light I added is mounted well forward on the coach, just above the right and left turn cameras on either side. I didn't want to mount the light any further aft out of concern it might be a little too prominent in the camera during night operations. Also, the chosen location of the added light afforded easy access for a wire tap into the front turn signal lights.

Sorry if I created any confusion.

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I have three side markers on both side of our coach. The front and middle are both Amber and the rear is Red. The front Amber and Rear Red are both turn signals along with the Mirror and Front and rear markers. I kind of like the idea of changing to the LEDs. Anything to alert some of the clowns out there. But I must say that most driver are well behaved and will yield when they are aware of your changes.

Has anyone out there noticed that trucker don't flash their lights to indicate that your are safe to return to your lane after passing. There are a few that still signal but they are getting fewer.

Herman

I have noticed this too. Also over the last 20 years it seems you don't hear them on the CB as much as you used to. Back in the day it used to be kind of entertaining to listen to some of their chatter.

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The truck drivers that help you change lanes and acknowledge your signals are probably old timers, a vanishing breed. Truck drivers now are just as likely to be young punks that try to drive the 18 wheelers like their sports car. They are no better (or maybe worse) than your average driver.

My '99 Monaco Exec has forward and mirror mounted signals and I changed all to LEDs as soon as they were available, much brighter. I also changed the center mounted stop light. They were fairly expensive but worth it to me.

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Bizsmith, What did you change the mirror ones with? The lights on my mirror look like they would break if I pried on the lens. My taillights looked the same but they did pry out with no damage. The ones on the mirror are very small.

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Ray, I checked my mirror turn signal lights yesterday. They just pop out if you put a thin screw driver placed at one end and not on the side. Mine were complete units and would need to replace the whole thing and not just the bulb. Can any one tell me where to acquire the small bulbs for the side Turn Signals? Auto parts houses??

Herman

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The turn lights mounted in my mirrors were model 15 lights and Herman was correct, they will just pop out with a very slim blade screw driver applied on the short end of the light. That is how the manufacturer says to remove them. Our Dutchstar did have LEDs there, but they were a single LED unit and not very noticeable.

I replaced them with Truck Lite, Model 15 triple LED units and it made quite a difference. A word about installation; these are a tight fit and may require a bit of filing of the gripping edge on the ends to get the new units to seat properly. I got my lights from Amazon.

Worth mentioning is the fact that I did not have to install resistors to get all the new LED turn signal lights to perform like they should. Our 2012 Freightliner Chassis under the Dutchstar had already installed an appropriate LED compatible flasher, so it all worked.

The transformation is now complete, there no filament bulbs on our Dutch.